April 2020 Budget & Investment Portfolio Update. Over 18% lost in just one month!
March Review
Well, March ... what a month.
Hands up who found March to be the shittest month (so far) 🙋
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I'm very fortunate that all I lost this March was a bit of money ... people have lost much more than me, so I am still very grateful for what I have. Luckily my family and friends are well and I pray that they continue to be.
I am eternally grateful to my previous self for creating an Emergency Fund, this would be a much more stressful time if I hadn’t created one.
I set myself the following goals for March: I sold quite a few unwanted things on eBay and Facebook marketplace, I will use that money to reinvest in Live Full Retire Early. I decided NOT to invest in Wealthsimple until I feel the stock market is more stable. I decided to keep the money in my bank, ready for investment when the world has gone back to ‘normal’. We also decided that putting 5% of our paychecks into the 'refurb' budget wasn’t a good idea. I haven’t worked since 23rd March (and have now been put on Furlough) and my boyfriend finished the following day, so we're trying to be VERY conservative with our spending.
In March's update I said " I’m looking forward to a ‘normal’ month. Normal being where there is nothing that affects my boyfriend working and we have no major expenses coming out" well ... I guess we are going to be waiting a while to get back to normal. Over the next few weeks/months I expect the world to get back to normal however, my biggest fear is the state of the economy once all this is over. We are going to have to pay of it ... literally!Any Brits reading this, expect your income tax to increase ... start planning for it now.
Lets see how the C word has affected my numbers...
Investment Update
Money allocation | Returns last month | Returns in 2020 | |
Cryptocurrency | 70.04% | -22.53% | -64.07% |
Real Estate - Property Partner | 1.18% | -1.18% | -1.09% |
Real Estate - Private Rentals | 24.65% | -1.21% | -7.76% |
Precious Metals | 3.50% | 6.72% | 8.60% |
Debt | Paid back this month | Paid back in 2020 |
Mortgage | 0.36% | 0.99% |
Credit Cards | 4.75% | 26.01% |
House Loan | 0.46% | 2.19% |
Loans | 2.37% | 8.89% |
Comments on this months investments
Biggest Winner: Precious Metals
Biggest Loser: Cryptocurrency
Well, so far my crypto investments are performing very poorly and seeing these numbers in black and white doesn't make me feel good at all. That being said, I invest for the long term, I have no intention of selling any of my investments so the loss is only a paper loss not a realised loss.
My precious metal investments are clearly the best performing asset of 2020, which isn't a surprise because precious metals are proven to perform the best during a recession.
I received an email from Property Partner with an announcement stating that all dividends are going to be suspended for 3 months and will be reviewed on 30th June 2020.
The email says " Net income that is earned in the next 3 months will accumulate within each property’s bank balance, for the benefit of that property’s capital reserves and that property’s investors. "
I completely understand why they have done this however, the dividend payouts would've come in handy... so for the next few months you don't be seeing any gains (or losses) to my Property Partner returns.
Goal(s) For April and May
I’m not going to go mad with goal setting for the next month or two, the world is very uncertain and I guess my main goal is to continue to be conservative with our spending and be mindful of every penny I spend, to stick to my budgets and to review and update my budget weekly.
10 things you can do to improve your investment and financial situation during lockdown
- Read Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad Poor Dad Book
- Read Dave Ramsey's The Total Money Makeover
- Download the Live Full Retire Early Annual Budget Planner
- Use the above planner to review or create your budget
- Do your own net worth/investment update. Tag me on instagram @livefullandretireearly
- Set your financial goals for the next 8 months
- Read Think and Grow Rich by Napolean Hill
- Read The Richest Man in Babylon By George S. Clason
- Listen to The Sunny Show Podcast by Sunny Lenarduzzi
- Listen to the Build Your Tribe Podcast by Brock and Chalene Johnson
- Listen to The Financial Confessions Podcast by The Financial Diet
- Listen to the Blogging With Leslie Podcast by Leslie Samuel
Previous Updates
March 2020 update
February 2020 update
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